Mood on No. 9 bus: voting always matters

EDMONTON — An election “is a bit of a waste but I encourage everyone to vote,” tweets Yegnumber9, a frequent passenger of the bus that rumbles from Southgate Centre to Northgate Centre.

“Apathy is so 2005.”

That about summed up the mood Friday on the real No. 9 bus.

Yegnumber9 is a novelty Twitter account pretending to be a bus, but downtown commuters, post-secondary students and shoppers dominated the crowd leaving Southgate Friday morning.

At the end of Week 2 of the federal election campaign, no single issue has emerged to dominate the national stage.

NAIT student Kelsey Allin said she will vote, but hopes the candidates have mobile-enabled web pages so she can read them on her iPhone when she has time.

She voted Conservative last time. “I’m leaning more to that again. Things are well-balanced now,” she said, but her key issue is health care. She wants the federal government to provide better support when provincial systems fail.

Melody Hopchin piped in from across the aisle when Allin finished. Hopchin has grown children, 20 and 21, and voting is mandatory, she said. “I don’t ask who they vote for but it’s a rule.”

She’s voting Conservative and has a lawn sign at her house. “It’s just time to move forward. Personally, for me and my husband, we’re hoping for a majority. It’s time to get things done.”

Jennifer Ornstein is leaning toward the Greens because she sat beside party leader Elizabeth May during a flight to Norman Wells, N.W.T., last September. “She’s a really awesome woman, had great ideas. She’s has me convinced to vote Green, for now at least.

“But I don’t know much about (the platforms) yet.”

Ryan Phillips is listening to Muse in his headphones at the back of the bus. His friends at NAIT debate who they should vote for and opinions are mixed, he said. He’s leaning Conservative, just because “really, they haven’t done anything wrong.”

Fellow student Brett Gregoire is leaning toward the Liberals. “They have more of a people approach,” he said. With the Conservatives, “it’s everyone for themselves, a lot more individual responsibility.”

He wants to see more funding for municipal governments to support better public transit, for example.

“If you’ve ever been to Montreal, buses there go 24-7,” Gregoire said with envy.

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